Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon concedes he thought his Scotland career was over

It should have been a night of celebration for the iconic goalkeeper as he received his 75th cap but it was immersed in disappointment. Steve Clarke handed Gordon the final twenty minutes of the Euro 2024 warm-up clash after earlier informing the Hearts goalkeeper that he wouldn’t be part of his squad for Germany. 

Even ignoring the incredible resilience shown to recover from a horrendous leg break, Clarke’s decision seemed harsh given the 41-year-old’s vast experience and ability in comparison to those who travelled.

It was widely assumed that Gordon’s Scotland career had reached an unjust ending but he’s now back in the fold and favourite to start the Nations League double-header against Croatia and Portugal after Angus Gunn’s injury. 

“Yes, absolutely,” Gordon replied when asked if his international career was over. “I had to ask the kit man for a new tracksuit because I didn’t think I’d be needing that again! It was nice to see everybody again. It just shows you never know in football.”

On missing Euro 2024, Gordon added: “It was hard, it took a few days and to be realistic, probably a few weeks after that initial conversation. It’s difficult for anybody to have that conversation no matter what side of that you’re on. I spoke to the manager and it was a difficult one for him to deal with as well but he had to make a decision.

“I know that’s partly what comes with football and the manager’s got to make that call. So it was a difficult one for me to take on that day. But I had to just go away and work even harder to try and come back again. If that was going to be the last time I was going to play in a Scotland jersey out here, it was such an emotional build-up to that game, to think that was going to be the last time.”

Gordon missed over a year of football after suffering a serious leg injury against Dundee United in December 2022. It wasn’t the first time that the Hearts No.1 had shown incredible character to recover from adversity in his career – spanning three decades – and the proud Scotsman still tuned in to watch Euro 2024, despite his disappointment. 

“It was tough,” Gordon admitted. “Immediately after that, I managed to go away on holiday for a few days to get me out of Scotland. Because that’s all anybody wanted to talk to me about and I didn’t really want to talk about it. It was nice to have three or four days out of the country.

“I watched all the matches – you can’t take that away from me. You still want the team to do well and the country to progress. You want everybody that you’ve left behind and went to the tournament to have a successful time. But It was difficult not being there having given everything I possibly could to the effort to try and be part of it. But that’s not always under your full control.”

Berti Vogts handed Gordon his Scotland debut against Trinidad and Tobago over twenty years ago but the final chapter of his international journey could now arrive at the World Cup in 2026. Many players would have announced their retirement after missing out on potentially the first, and last, major international tournament of their careers but that was never under consideration for Gordon. 

He added: “That’s not me, that’s not really in my character to be able to do that. I always want to be available for selection. As long as I’m playing football, I want to be available. Then it’s up to the manager to decide whether to pick me or not.

“That’s just not something I think about. I love playing football for Scotland every single time I’ve managed to do it. Hopefully I get the chance to do that again, which would be another amazing comeback.”

Before returning to the Scotland fold, Gordon needed to re-establish himself at Hearts amid strong competition from Zander Clark but the veteran has started eight of the last ten games. 

“He’s done very well,” Gordon said of Clark. “He’s obviously gone to the Euros as part of the squad. There’s huge competition there, probably more so than any other club team where you wouldn’t have two international goalkeepers at this level. Maybe when you go to the top end of the Premier League in England, you get a couple of internationals vying for the place.

“Especially for Scotland to have two at the same place. I think Alan and David were both at Hull at the same time. That probably wasn’t ideal for the Scotland manager then either. It’s going to be a battle at Hearts to keep myself in that position. Whoever wins that battle at any particular time is going to put themselves in the front seat here as well.”